Memorial Day 2016

 This is a repeat of a 2011 post that well bears repeating:

Memorial Day has traditionally been celebrated as the beginning of Summer. No, not the actual date summer begins, but the official day when the seasonal holidays start and the barbecues begin, beaches open, playgrounds are filled with children, parks, lakes and pools ring with the laughter and mirth of kids and adults alike. The sweet smoky smell of hot dogs, hamburgers and even marshmallows over a fire waft through the air, an odor that beckons each and every one of us to childhood memories no matter our age.

But wait, somehow, in all of the fun and frivolity, many seem to have forgotten the solemnity and sacred meaning of Memorial Day. What it should mean to every American. Memorial Day is a day set aside each year to remember the fallen warriors of our country; those who made the ultimate sacrifice to give each of us freedom, and the ability to reach out for the American Dream. No, they didn't give you the American Dream, you have to work for that yourself. But they gave their lives to assure you had the freedom to reach out for it, free from oppression, tyranny and grave injustice as is the case in so many other countries.

It doesn't matter whether you call it a war, police action, or what name you pin on combat. Or any other action that places our military men and women in harms way to defend freedom. Men and women gave all so that we might live free. They didn't do it for fame or glory, or a medal to pin on their uniform. Medals usually came too late to shine in a parade; many were laid on rows of caskets at ceremonies in such places as Arlington and Fort Rosecrans. The Soldier, Sailor, Marine, Coast Guardsman, Air Forceman or Merchant Marine never saw the glint of the Silver Star or Purple Heart or other medal in the sun as it laid upon his casket. But the family knew the bravery that he or she displayed many days or weeks or months before this day came to pass.

Most of our fallen warriors did come home, to be interred in their beloved country near family and loved ones. But many didn't and are buried on foreign shores in huge cemeteries, marked by simple crosses and markers, the only remnants of fierce battles, where Americans shed their blood to give freedom to others in a foreign land. They didn't know the people, but knew freedom was as important to them as it is to us. Freedom, the one thing that is perhaps as much important as life itself.

In my humble opinion, the three most important things are life, love and freedom. Without them life is just a bleak and somewhat hopeless experience. With perseverance and luck, many find love, but it takes a very special person willing to lay it all on the line to fight for your freedom. When you realize the warrior doesn't know you, or the individuals they are fighting for in most cases, it makes it even more impressive that they are willing to sacrifice all for others, to give them a chance at a better life.

On this Memorial Day, I will remember my brothers who have fallen in Vietnam, as well as all those who have fallen before, and after, in every war and conflict. I will remember those who have been ravaged by the remnants of war, and who have died as a result of service-connected injuries and illnesses, those who never appear in casualty rolls, but who are casualties just the same.

And some special prayers to several brothers who are very close in my heart today and always will be. Rest well my brothers; we'll all be crossing the bar to join you some day.

And, just in case anyone ever forgets:

FREEDOM ISN'T FREE!

Agent Orange ... Too Little, Too Late, Too Bad

Finally, after about 50 years, the government is finally bucking up and taking responsibility for the illnesses that came calling on veterans, as a result of the herbicide and defoliant, Agent Orange. Known as AO by most, it was so called for the orange bands around the fifty-five gallon drums containing the mixture, that was sprayed as a defoliant over the vegetation in South Vietnam during the war. Most was sprayed during Operation Ranch Hand using C-123 aircraft, although a significant amount was sprayed using helicopters as well. Millions of gallons of herbicides of various kinds were sprayed, 21 million gallons alone attributed to Agent Orange.

Oh, there were many other sprayings and releases of this super toxin in the world, and right here in the U.S., but the ones we remember most were those associated with Vietnam. The ones where the droplets fell from the sky like rain, where men slogged through the residue, where ships and patrol boat decks were covered with the mist, yet the government said it never was sprayed in those areas, not at that time, and every excuse to avoid rightfully owning up to the misery caused by this deadly chemical.

Only recently, after lawsuit after lawsuit and delay after delay, has the Veterans Administration stepped up to the plate (more like being bulldozed to the plate according to most) and accepted that so many illnesses are associated with this chemical. Not only to the veterans themselves, but to their children, and perhaps to their children's children. Not to even mention what this did to the people in the country we were trying to bring a sense of democracy to.

Sadly, many who were affected by the ravages of Agent Orange never lived to see any benefits. They died from cancers and other maladies foisted on them by the insidious diseases that this chemical brought. Never expected it, most figured it was probably something they got in Vietnam, since so many were ill. Service in Vietnam was the common denominator. But the government said no, and after all, would the government lie and withhold the truth from our men and women who fought for our country? I want to laugh and cry at the same time when i ask that question. Seems they always have and it seems they always will to cover their collective asses.

Spina Bifida, where the spine of the fetus fails to close during the developmental stages of pregnancy has been shown to be an effect on the unborn children where either parent served in Vietnam or in some cases, Korea, where herbicides were also used in the late 60's to early 70's. The long term effects of spina bifida include care far beyond the formative years, often resulting in permanent physical defects, including paralysis and inability to control bladder and bowel functions. There are also about eighteen other birth defects presently recognized as resultant to Agent Orange exposure by women veterans.

There are over a dozen diseases associated with exposure to AO currently listed by the VA. This does NOT mean that because one has one of these diseases that it was AO caused, but there is now a presumption that if you were in Vietnam during the war, that you were exposed. The old "boots on ground" theory is gone so those on ships and patrol boats can now make claims for the benefits they are rightfully entitled to if their conditions are Agent Orange related.

I'm certainly not anti-war. Guess as I age, I'm just anti-death and destruction when you don't expect it because it's insidious. Much like the current warriors, and the Gulf War syndrome, and the Depleted Uranium issues that nobody gave lots of thought to until after the fact. WTF? Uranium not being a problem? And we pay scientists to figure these things out before the fact? Good Lord!

I am including some links below, and I want to warn you, some of the photos are not nice. They are horrible in fact. Don't look at them if you are squeamish. And, these are not even the worst of the lot. You won't find veterans there, but what we left behind as an unfortunate legacy of war. Yes, many veterans suffer horribly from what this chemical caused, as do their families. Yet the pain that is suffered by others seems to make ours pale in comparison. I suppose that's because those who remained continued to have exposures unabated for so long.

We didn't condone chemical warfare, nor do we now. Yet our children, and the children of those we tried to bring a better life to, are now paying the price, for trying to spread democracy across the treetops of their country. A sad legacy for everyone.

Courtesy of Phillip Jones Griffiths: http://www.digitaljournalist.org/issue0401/pjg_thumbs.html

http://www.chicagotribune.com/health/agentorange/chi-091204-vietnam-agent-orange-pictures,0,4281985.photogallery

http://www.whale.to/b/nguyen.html

PTSD...Just how "POST" is the trauma?

We've all heard the term PTSD..Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Most people never really heard much about it until about quite a few years following the Vietnam War, although it's nothing really new. It's been around under different names since time immemorial, I guess, and in different vestments and colors. In other wars, people became "shell shocked" or simply traumatized or suffered "combat fatigue" but nobody took into account what happens when the horrors of war. or anything else that befalls a human being, for that matter, is bottled up inside and comes back to haunt you again and again.

As for Vietnam veterans, it just seems that it became more widespread, as they tried to cope with a society that for the most part, hardly welcomed them home with open arms, and who had little mental health services, or others to talk to about their experiences, and were thrust back into and tried to assimilate "normal" societal behavior once again.

PTSD comes in many forms and shapes and isn't limited to combat vets. It happens to crime victims, accident victims, and people from all walks of life. Some people say it sneaks up on you when you least expect it, with nightmares and visions of the past, and others say it's a living thing that you walk with every living hour. Everyone handles it differently, and nobody can tell another exactly what or how to feel when it comes along, since it, unfortunately, is one of those personal things each one experiences differently. Like pain, each has some different degree of tolerance, a level that can bury some, or all, of that experience in the subconscious, most or all of the time, but unfortunately again, not forever.

I once wondered why the veteran suicide rate was so high, and then started thinking whether anyone ever looked at an overall PTSD rate rather than just a combat veteran rate as a total? It's easy to look at numbers when you have a figure that is in hand, such as vets, as you know the numbers who were exposed. But how about others who have had episodes and experiences in civilian life, that rival the trauma of war? What is the rate of alcoholism, drug use and suicide among that group? I don't think anyone has ever done a study to see how that fits into the total equation! Plus, we see the numbers used by the VA may be more or less skewed, as they have been deemed unreliable for many years, while they denied many of the PTSD cases as factual, which were really true cases. Many more await in the wings.

So, how long does PTSD take to manifest itself? In some cases, it's almost instant. In some cases, years. In some cases, it just jumps out at no specific time, and in a very few cases, it remains dormant for decades, and then manifests itself and nobody can understand why the person acts as they do. Strange thing for sure. Remembering like it was yesterday yet wishing it was tomorrow.

Is it really POST? Or is it simply a reliving of the stress and trauma every day, in a mind that simply rewinds to that time or event over and over again? In your mind it reoccurs and it's now, moments ago, today. But even if you think it was yesterday, I guess that would mean it was in the past, but just how far is POST. Yesterday, last week, last month or for some of us, forty or fifty years or more ago? Or more? And for the returning veterans of today, it's likely going to be a lot sooner than later that they will see the effects of PTSD if they are prone to it at all. Maybe it should be Personal Traumatic Stress Disorder...as that's what it seems to be..very personal indeed.

So, it's a personal thing. I know many times I and others have said, just get over it. Move on, the war or the event is over. But frankly, it's like an ugly tattoo. Once it's there , it's forever. You don't have to look at it every minute, but it's not going anywhere. The best you can do is focus on the good things in life and try to filter out the bad. Find love and someone who loves and cares about you, and love and care about them. Find your soulmate if you can, and you'll find an inner peace you've never known before. Stress is a demon that takes a lot to tame and it isn't an easy fight. Kind of like St. George and the dragon I guess. But as I recall, St. George did win in the end.

Oh, yeah. Would you do me a great favor? Next time you see a veteran, especially one from the Vietnam era, tell him or her "Welcome Home." You might see a tear in their eye, or a grin, or smile, or even a shocked look. You see, we were never given a welcome when we returned home, and it's become a tradition for us to welcome each other home, even now, as a way to honor the service each has rendered to our country, and to say that welcome we never received when we returned. Of course welcome every service person you meet and thank them for their service. Because without dedicated men and women willing to lay down their life for this country, you wouldn't be reading this, nor would I have the opportunity to write it either.

God Bless America and keep safe our warriors!

Veterans Unite Now or Shut Up Later

Military Veterans will get one chance to vote for the new Commander-in-Chief on November 4th. One chance to have their say in how their benefits will be for the next four years and maybe long beyond that. One voice to give Washington direction as to what YOU want out of the Veterans Administration in the form of health care and support, benefits, compensation for service connected injuries and illnesses, rehabilitation, prosthetics, hearing, vision and dental and family benefits. Those things you and fellow military fought, suffered and died for the right to have!

Only one man in the running has the slightest clue what the military is all about and his name is John McCain. For want of a better description, and for brevity, John McCain has "been there and done that." He has been a warrior, a POW, a Senator and a proponent of veterans' rights. His opponent in this election, Senator Obama, has never served this country's armed forces, never been in combat, is a fledgling politician and doesn't know a damned thing about being a veteran or our health care system. That in itself should scare veterans to death!

It shouldn't matter whether you're a Republican or Democrat, folks, that should scare the hell out of you. Mr. Obama knows nothing about the military or the VA or veterans!

Anyone who says they'll have great advisers, and those are the ones they will count on for advice, is full of crap when it comes to us veterans. Remember what happened in Vietnam when we had all those armchair advisers directing the war from Washington? And how about those advisers sitting in plush chairs in Washington and Virginia while troops are taking incoming in Iraq and Afghanistan? And all the blue suited advisers while you're laying in a VA or military hospital, trying to recover from injury or illness, while some senate or congressional committee argues over whether they should fund enough so you can get a decent prosthesis this year?

VA health care is going downhill fast once again. For example, I used to get to see my neurologist every three months, then every four, then it was bumped to every six months. Now they don't make appointments and you have to call and try to get in and they're overbooked. My November appointment was never scheduled and the earliest I can be seen is March. That will be over ten months between neurologist visits! And, they never refilled my medications, twice! So I had to call in twice about that too. If you're not on top of them, frankly, you're going to fall through the cracks and you're screwed!

Plus, they have all new doctors every few years, using residents from the local university medical schools, which means we're getting trainees essentially. By the time you get comfortable with a physician, they're gone and you get a new one; I've had three and onto number four in March, the last at my request as docs who forget to refill prescriptions, tell you they don't believe in meds that have helped you in the past, and have to have a med student present to grandstand with at every visit somehow don't seem all that positive for me. So you walk out with a feeling that you haven't been helped at all. Kind of like facing the enemy and the only good thing is their Kalashnikov was empty.

I can't get to see a cardiologist even though I have a stent implant, since there aren't enough cardiologists in the system to go around. Bet those fat cat politicians in Washington have plenty of cardiologists lined up waiting for their butts when needed!

Care used to be excellent, but it is failing. The in-patient room I was in a few months ago was dirty; your feet stuck to the floors. The bathroom was nasty. You could write your name in the film on the windows. You couldn't understand the nurses on the night shift; none of them spoke fluent English. But they did swab your nose daily to test for MRSA. What about cleaning the damned room? Maybe that would help reduce infection potentials?

They tout the suicide prevention programs, and how they want to help all the troops with PTSD before it ends up like 'Nam? If they handle it with the same bureaucratic bull crap and bungling as everything else, it won't help a whole lot. They'll tell a great story to Congress and the Senate about the wonders they're accomplishing, while military personnel are coming home and offing themselves in a distant field or side road, because they never had anyone who really understood what the hell they went through. And it's been reported the VA under reported many suicides. Why? Probably because they didn't or couldn't do the job they were supposed to do. Funding or flat out F**k-up? It doesn't matter, but there are many families grieving that shouldn't be. And until the funding and people are in place to recognize those who need help and then help them and their families as needed in a timely manner, things won't change.

Truth is, the VA has some wonderful programs, people and facilities, but the system is busted and needs to be fixed before it falls apart. It's fragile, and if it's not fixed, it will crumble fast. I'm seeing that first hand, and I sure don't want to be a service casualty a second time, this time due to lack of medical care funding and follow through.

Fund it, fix it and hold it accountable. Simple enough even for a bunch of stupid politicians!

The VA states the problem is the influx of troops coming back from Iraq and Afghanistan. But wait, they didn't expect this? Once again, no leadership at the VA and no foresight. That's something I'm sure John McCain will provide, leadership and someone to kick butt and get this house in order!

Regardless, if you don't get out and vote and make the right choice, you'll see this get worse and worse. Add to that the increased taxes you'll be seeing, and the problems will compound. The taxes won't hit us older people nearly as hard as they will our children and grandchildren, as they're the ones working and coming up in the world.

I can look them in the eye and say I voted for the man who could do the job for the veterans who gave so much for this country...will you be able to do the same?

What Do We Learn from War?

It seems we have a penchant to go to war pretty frequently, sometimes for reasons that almost everyone agrees on, and sometimes for reasons that seems to divide as many people as unites them. Why do we do what we do and go to war? Why do we send our sons and daughters, fathers and mothers into harm's way? Why has it always been this way? I'm certainly not a historian, just my take on what's been happening over the years.

Sometimes it's to defend ourselves from tyranny, as it was in the earlier times of our nation, and the Revolution, or because parts of our own nation didn't agree with how each side handled government, and split into several factions, pitting brother against brother in the Civil War.

Sometimes it's been to prevent the global spread of a power such as Germany and the Japanese in World War I and World War II. Sometimes it's been to prevent an aggressor from taking over the land and freedoms of our allies, as it was in Korea, and sometimes it's been to secure the freedom of others who are oppressed under communism or a dictatorship, such as Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan.

In everyones' eyes, except the British, perhaps, America won the Revolution and became independent. No questions there. Depending on where you ask the question, north or south of the Mason-Dixon line, either the North or the South won the Civil War. Actually the North came out on top, but in my mind, most of the reasons for fighting were never a reason to lose family or fight over, other than perhaps a brawl on the back porch after drinking. It was a draw that left wounds that still fester in some areas to this day. Thankfully, those wounds are finally healing faster than in the past....

World War I and World War II were wars that were basically started in Europe by Germany and had our involvement to stave off takeover of Great Britain by Germany. Although WWI lasted from 1914-1918, we entered in 1917, and a peace treaty was signed in 1919. WWII actually started in 1939 and our involvement didn't officially start until December 7, 1941 when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor. Had the US not entered the war, Germany would have steamrolled over the rest of Europe and Asia, continued weapons development, mass genocide and perhaps become unstoppable. No question we had to get involved in a big way. As for the Japanese, they decided their own fate with the attack on Pearl Harbor. The dropping of two nuclear weapons ended the war with Japan with their surrender on August 15, 1945.

So, two more wins, for the American and Allied side as it were. Then as for Korea, I don't know whether that was a clear win, but South Korea remains a free nation after fifty something years, so as far as I'm concerned, we won there too.

Vietnam was a quagmire, a political war that had been fought for eons long before we entered it. A nation in chaos and unrest for centuries and, in my opinion, nothing we did was going to change that as long as politicians pulled the strings. As young warriors we entered the fray ready to change the world for the better and kick butt, and thought the Washington political machine was behind us all the way. Nothing could have been further from the truth. The tide of war could have been turned in six months and the communists routed, had the politicians listened to the military who knew what needed to be done to "clean the clock" of the enemy. But no, it became a political war with air strikes requiring permission and bombing runs cancelled and targets requiring surgical precision for acquisition. But only for the Americans and not for the other side, as always. We play by one set of rules and the opposition has no rules at all. Many people at home opposed the war, although I'm not sure to this day whether they were really opposed to those who gave so much in fighting oppression and tyranny. After all, they were being lied to daily by the same politicians who were directing fire when they hadn't a clue what the hell they were doing. Not fit to be politicians nor military, yet trying to be both and killing and maiming thousands in their stupidity.

Let it be known that we did not lose the war in Vietnam. The politicians finally decided to back out of something that we could have won, but decided to play with for too damned long. Like a dog who grabs a snake by the neck and could have killed it with one bite, but decides to play with it, gets bit too many times, and eventually slinks away. We gained freedom for many thousands of Vietnamese and those in neighboring countries, and paid a heavy price for doing so. A very heavy price that was way too high for what the final outcome was. But, again, the warriors didn't decide the outcome, the politicians did. And, other than a few, like John "fond of Fonda" Kerry, (The thought of those two people nauseates me) all did what had to be done in the name of God and Country.

Then there was the Gulf War, which was won swiftly and decisively. Yet, once again, the politicians screwed up and decided to quit before cleaning house completely. With Iraq in the cross hairs, we left the sands and came home victorious and left Saddam Hussein still in power when we could have marched into Baghdad all in one fell swoop.

So here we are in Afghanistan searching for terrorists and fighting al-Queda and in Iraq fighting God knows who today or tomorrow. We toppled Saddam Hussein effectively and have a mess to clean up. In my opinion, it's turned into another Vietnam, which is a shame. We've traded jungle, mud and monsoons for desert, sand and wind. I would have thought we would have learned something about fighting insurgents and guerrillas by now. These people are insane! They don't care about life! They're freaking crazy and don't care if they die or you die. They murder their kids if they don't agree to marry the right person and kill their wives if their veil is off center! They kill because someone mentions another religion or says a word wrong. They are crazy! And, once again, the damned politicians want the military to fight surgically clean! While the other side fights as dirty as possible and kills and maims at will without regard to anything, we're in there with a scalpel and criticized when a round goes astray. Then we compound it by court martialing our military on charges of murder for doing their job. Yup, throw the good guys to the wolves when you can...why not a couple of stuffed suits from Washington who are really the guilty bastards, just as they were back during Vietnam?

Sad to say, we'll be over there for awhile. At least until the politicians get their fingers off the trigger and let the military make the real decisions. With God's blessing John McCain will be at the helm, and a real military man will make some decisions to kick ass, and then come home sooner rather than later. Make the Iraqis take charge of their affairs and lead the way.

What Doesn't Kill You, Doesn't Necessarily Make you Stronger...

As a kid, I looked out at the wide world and the years ahead of me as some sort of ocean of infinity, some huge chasm, that was never actually going to be crossed. Oh, sure, I'd swing and swim, and move forward, but I'd never really reach the point that my grandfather had or my father was at. After all, they were...ahem...older.

My father was a police officer and it always amazed me how many people he knew from all walks of life. It was the job that gave him that luxury, or vantage point on life, I suppose, but it also gave him an unusual view on death as well. Some of his friends died at an early age, much earlier than I would have guessed, but then again, when I was 10, my dad was 54, so he was getting older and many of his older friends were at, or had already met, retirement age. Plus the injuries and work took its toll on some, as police and firemen seemed to comprise most of the closest family friends.

Yet, it seemed people in that era either died early with some incurable childhood disease, died as a result of some horrible accident, from one of the wars, or lived well into their retirement years. Oh yes, there were other causes of death, but it seems like today we have more types of disease and medical problems than ever before, and more people dying of more maladies at younger ages than in the past. What's the reason?

Heart attack and stroke are major killers, but much of their lethality can be prevented by diet and exercise and the latest medicines, such as statins, can help reduce arterial plaque and reduce the potential for heart attack and stroke. Anti-platelet therapy can also help reduce the production of blood clots, and reduce the risk of cerebral thrombosis, coronary thrombosis and stroke.

But what about all the chemicals we have been exposed to that nobody ever told us about or warned us they were bad for us? The herbicides, defoliants, pesticides, sterilants, plasticizers, benzene, benzine (they are two totally different chemicals) MEK, MIBK, Acetone, Toluol, and a thousand others we've been exposed to.

How about the chemicals pregnant mothers were exposed to before the electronics industry discovered the checicals and processes from certain types of circuit board manufacturing was detrimental to the unborn fetus? Components in the manufacture of the boards, including capacitors, were often made with polychlorinated biphenyls (PCB's) which were extremely toxic . Glycol ethers caused serious health problems for women of child-bearing age. How many children were born deformed, or crippled or with a mental handicap because of those and dozens of other dangerous chemicals those women came into contact with, inhaled or otherwise absorbed into their bodies? The internet is alive with stories of those exposures!

Why didn't our own government 'fess up to the problems with Agent Orange before Vietnam Veteran's wives started having children born with Spina Bifida? And the women Vietnam Vets started having children with the same condition? And let's be honest here, spina bifida is the tip of the iceberg when you look at all the other complications that can beset babies with this issue; hydrocephalus, Chiari II malformation, tethered spinal cord, urinary tract disorders, latex allergies, learning disabilities and more. Yet nobody wanted to tell the poor soldier he was getting into this stuff. Or handling it or loading it or anything else.

Tell the vet the stuff was harmless when he has any of the "presumptive conditions" on the list including numerous cancers caused by Agent Orange. Yes, some of the conditions may not have been caused by the stuff, but try telling that to a 30 year old man in the late 70's and early 80's who's wasting away from a cancer he's never even heard of before! Now multiply that by the thousands who are now in their 60's and beyond where health often takes a turn for the worse just because of age, and the prognosis isn't all that good.

Has the government turned around their thinking and started telling the troops all about the "bad stuff"? Not on your life! Iraq and Afghanistan vets still have the same problems, although different compounds to deal with. However they are being hustled through the VA system faster than the older vets so at least they are receiving faster care. The downside of that is it leaves some of the vets on the back burner to deal with war injuries and illnesses from 40 years ago! It seems that's because the war in the middle east is on everyones' mind and Vietnam is old news; or at least that's what most of the older vets believe. Getting swept under the carpet again. Now PTSD is a big deal...ten, twenty, thirty years ago or more it was brushed off, and people told to suck it up. It's in the public eye so better do something about it and, oh yeah, 2008 is an election year!

Same with the farmer who grows your food. Do you think they really know every nuance of the chemical that gets sprayed on the crops? Without those chemicals, we'd be eating lots less food at a much higher price, and the yields would be much lower per acre, likely. But the chemical manufacturers pass the government labeling requirements, sometimes barely in my opinion, and sell poison to the farmer and he obeys the label directions and applies it to his crops, He's very careful to assure you won't get sick from eating those crops, but the farmer, his fieldworkers and others who handle the equipment and chemicals can, and do. Some die every year from pesticide poisoning, and some die slowly as a result of long-term exposure. Some have effects that never go away, like the cholinesterase inhibitors, where some people can never be around the chemical again their entire life after prolonged exposures, or even a single acute exposure.

So, think about what you touch and use every day. That acetone or non-acetone nail polish remover makes me laugh because it's going straight to your internal organs when you use it. It's a solvent and nobody tells you that on the label. They package it in a pretty bottle and make it sound so inviting to use! Research it on your computer and find out what the chemical compounds really are, not just the proprietary name, and what they do to your body before you slather stuff on.

Because what doesn't kill you, may really be killing you very slowly, and you just don't know it today, or tomorrow...but someday, there it will be! And, like many, you'll always wonder where did that ever come from?

Finally, I'm now 10 years beyond where my father stood back when I was a boy, looking back over that ocean and chasm, wondering how I could have swung over and swam so quickly to the other side. Like my dad, I've met so many people, and had the luxury to travel to so many more places; my job brought me to see so much good and bad in life, more good than bad, though. I realized that time, war, accidents and friendship have all played a part in taking friends and loved ones away. That the magical, mystical trip was just that, a miracle all in itself, that only I could have lived and only I could have enjoyed. That the laughter, love, tears and joy could have belonged to nobody else but me. The winning, the losing, the soaring and the heartache was mine alone, and it all wrapped up to bring me to the other side and make me what I am today. Not rich nor poor, but just someone who knows who he is and where his roots are.

That all too quickly has the time passed to cross that ocean and stand here on this side, missing some who started the journey, adding and losing some more along the way, and lamenting most those whom I started with but who didn't make it all the way. The bright shining light ahead is a beacon to enjoy the rest of the journey with those I cherish most, and to always remember that life is simply a journey and the one who gets to the end is always a winner, but getting there first isn't really a good idea!

The Drums of War....

The year was 1964 and I recall it as if it were yesterday. The winter of 63-64 was a pretty harsh one in Northern New Jersey with more snow than I could recall for many previous years. Between my job at the Post Office and work at The Rescue Squad, I kept pretty busy day and night, save for the occasional nights of dating, and time to gather with friends to have a cold refreshment and a sandwich at a local establishment run by a couple of great Irishmen.

I had graduated high school a year earlier and dabbled in several jobs, including selling electronic parts and delivering automotive parts, which, honestly, was a job I really loved, but there was no future in it. I took the civil service test for, and went to work for the post office, where I was promptly placed on Tour 3, which comprised nights from 6PM to 2:30 AM five to 7 days a week, depending on the volume of mail. The one bright spot was a transfer to the Parcel Post Annex for about a month during Christmas, as I had a car, and several people who wanted to go were much closer to the boss than I...thus I got to work days and go because they needed someone to be the driver. No matter the reason; it was days and it was Christmas.

That year was a good one because I got to buy my mother a lightweight stick vacuum cleaner so she wouldn't have to sweep the floors of sand at the shore, and bought my dad a custom spinning rod and reel with his name on it from Bernie's Sport Shop. I received a loden green suede car coat from my parents, that was the most comfortable warm coat I'd ever had.

On New Years Eve, on the way to a party, we came across a severe traffic collision that sombered the mood for the night. Without going into detail, it was in large part of what changed the direction of my life into the safety and law enforcement fields, in seeing what happens in a split second when a drunk driver is at the wheel, and a beautiful human being is not beautiful any more. On New years Day 1964, only several hours after that accident occurred, a severe ice storm hit the area, and all of us at the Rescue Squad responded continually to accidents; it was a non-stop fiasco for 24 hours as we exchanged supplies, gurneys and rigs simply to keep moving from one response to another.

As winter wore on, I spent more time with my buddies, more duty hours at the Rescue Squad, and played hooky away from work when I could, having already signed the papers to join the military, and looking forward to May when I would enter and go to boot camp. One benefit would be that my government job would be waiting when I returned, and this was peacetime, so there wasn't much to be concerned about anyway. Four years of duty in the Coast Guard, a sea service I had always dreamed of joining, something I had almost been born with in my soul and bones, having come from a heritage of seafarers and ship builders, was close to becoming a reality.

I entered the US Coast Guard Receiving Station Boot Camp in Cape May, NJ on May 4, 1964 and spent the next 13 weeks in rigorous training for what was to be quite an adventure over the next four years. Although we were primarily a lifesaving service, every "Coastie" was as well prepared as any other military combatant and proficient in the use of weaponry and tactics. Our boot camp was longer than most, due to requirements in swimming and lifesaving as well as small boat handling, first aid, seamanship, weaponry, and of course the obligatory galley week.

Less than a week before graduation in August, 1964, on the radio in the Mess Hall, came the news of the Gulf of Tonkin incident, which would be the precursor to the Vietnam War. Little did any of us know it at the time, but the music playing on that radio later on was simply the harbinger to the drums of war, but none of us heard it in those tunes. It was just music, not the sound of the methodical drums that would be sounding as many left en route to Southeast Asia for Operation Market Time and other operations in the months ahead. The Drums of War were sounding, but falling on deaf ears.